Teams look to deal on NHL trade deadline

February 27 is the NHL's trade deadline, and teams are scraping together deals to improve their teams and make a march to the playoffs.

As of 1:35PM, three deals have been struck:

The Edmonton Oilers swap defensemen with the Minnesota Wild, sending Tom Gilbert to Minnesota for Nick Schultz. Gilbert's production has slipped the past three years after the 08-09 season where he posted a career high 45 points (5 goals, 40 assists). He's battled an ankle injury this season, but still led the Oilers in ice time, averaging almost 23 minutes a game.

Schultz was the Wild's leader in career games played (743) and is an excellent shot blocker, but only has three points in 62 games this season. He scored his first goal of the season this past Sunday, his first since January 2, 2011.

Both Gilbert and Schultz have two years left on their contracts, and will cost their new teams $4 million and $3.5 million in cap money, respectively.

The Tampa Bay Lightning traded away a conditional seventh round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft to the Detroit Red Wings for defenseman Mike Commodore. The conditions of the trade state that Commodore must play at least 15 games for the Lightning, and they must qualify for the 2012 playoffs.

Commodore hasn't seen much ice time this season, as he was playing behind Jakub Kindl. He has only two assists in 17 games this season.

Left winger Andrei Kostitsyn has left Montreal for Nashville for two draft picks. Nashville unloaded a 2013 pick and a conditional pick they acquired from the Hal Gill trade earlier this month. Kostitsyn has 12 goals and 24 assists this season, but he has only scored twice in the past 28 games. He will be reunited with his brother Sergei, whom the Predators acquired from the Canadiens in 2010.